Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2021

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

From one nail-biter year to another, this year presents an interesting set of nominees with an interesting lead-up to Oscar night. Kristen Stewart racked up the majority of critics’ awards. Nicole Kidman won the not-televised Golden Globe. Olivia Colman was riding the waves of The Lost Daughter’s late-breaking hype. Speaking of late breakers, Penélope Cruz was another big critics’ push and enjoyed a last-minute surge for a win leading to Oscar night. Ultimately, Jessica Chastain - after winning SAG - squeaked out and won the award.

Another thing to note is the dominance of biopics in this category - three of the five nominees played real-life figures. However, that is where their similarities end. Their films could not be any further in terms of style and tone. Same goes with the other two remaining nominees - one originated from an acclaimed novel and one an original character from a formidable master of world cinema. But for now, we are going to explore how the five characters of the Best Actress nominees were introduced in their respective films. 

Are you ready? The year: 2021...

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Chastain or Comer -- Who will inch closer to the Triple Crown?

by Matt St Clair

When looking at the recently announced Tony nominations, you might have noticed that the Best Actress in a Play lineup has only four nominees. That's because there were fewer than nine leading actresses from the 23 eligible plays during the 2022-23 Broadway season. Due to Tony rules and regulations, only four women were able to nab a spot. As a refresher, those four women are Jessica Chastain for A Doll’s House, Jodie Comer for Prima Facie, Jessica Hecht for Summer, 1976, and Audra McDonald for Ohio State Murders. Given that Hecht and McDonald are the only nominees for their respective plays, the potential winner is surely a contest between Jessica Chastain and Jodie Comer...

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Tony Award Nominations! "Some Like It Hot" leads

by Nathaniel R

Christian Borle and J Harrison Ghee are 2 of "Some Like It Hot"'s 13 nominations

Lea Michele, still treading the boards in Funny Girl, and Myles Frost who won Best Actor in a Musical last season for the Michael Jackson musical "MJ" announced the Tony Award nominations this morning honoring the current season on Broadway. The nomination leader, far out front, was the musical adaptation of movie classic Some Like It Hot (review coming soon!) with 13 nominations. Jessica Chastain scored her first Tony nominations (with her second Broadway show) though other screen stars weren't as lucky this year. Though the Tony Awards are gendered for acting, two non-binary performers became the first to score nods for acting with their work in popular musicals: Alex Newell (Shucked) and J Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot). 

Nominations are after the jump...

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SAG Acceptance Speeches, Ranked

by Nathaniel R

SAG Awards are often a good swift night. There's no dawdling around with filler, there's not much in the way of montages, but there are clips, acceptance speeches, and a parade of celebrities. In short, we're into it. The most sublime inspired combo in terms of presenter pairings was the evil twinnage of Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza. (Whoever thought of that deserves a 20% raise.)  But what SAG is all about is the acceptance speeches.

They come one after the other, a veritable parade of gushing. This ranking was done on the fly from memory so... I do not stand by it should you want to fight in the comments. Nevertheless why not share the acceptance speeches? (the ones we could embed at least). Let's look at the speeches  from least best to best best...

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Links/News

• NYT Fun Avatar Way of the Water discussion with James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldaña, and Sam Worthington
• Mashable a list of family-safe horror movies if you like spooky but hate gore (this describes me!)
• IndieWire first gushing reactions to Black Panther Wakanda Forever
• Parade Comprehensive Jessica Chastain interview. She wants to remake Death Becomes Her which... sorry, why not just a legacy sequel with new character? Streep & Hawn are still with us

More after the jump including Paul Mescal, Lupita Nyong'o, James Gunn, Jennifer Lawrence and Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar campaigning...

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